Path of A Duelist
by Mass-Effect-Fan
Summary: Join Takuya as he joins duel academy in the shadow of his brother, a former student and pro duelist who disappeared years ago under mysterious circumstances. Will Takuya have what it takes to surpass the legacy of his brother, can he face the challenges ahead of him, and what exactly lies ahead of him. Read to find out.
1. Duel 1

**Path of a Duelist**

* * *

Duel 1: He who will walk

* * *

"Bro, this is the day I beat you! I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode (A:1900), and now I'll attack you directly!" (LP: 500)

"Heh, Reckless as always Takuya, you'll never be able to beat me if you just stumble blindly into my traps, I activate Magic Cylinder!" (LP: 1500)

"No!" (LP:0)

"Sorry Takuya, you still haven't caught up with me yet"

"Why do I always lose?"

"It's because you still haven't learned the value of your cards, you just throw out whatever monster is strongest and hope to win that way"

"But what's the point in weak monsters!"

"This is my favourite card; I want you to use it"

"But...this card is so weak"

"Trust in it, and one day you might be able to beat me"

* * *

"_Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!"_ thought a brown haired boy, barrelling through the crowd _"If I had known the streets were going to be so busy, I would have woken up earlier!"_

The boy had long light brown hair, which was parted in the middle. His eyes were a bright gleaming blue, which shone with confidence. Attached to his left arm was an old Duel Disk model and attached to his belt was a white deck holder. He currently wore a black short sleeved t-shirt, blue-grey jeans, black and white runners and a grey jumper which was currently left open.

He sighed in relief as he passed through the crowd and was finally able to see a large white building with a domed roof. A crowd was gathering outside it, full of the eager faces of applicants and the bored looking faces of the people who were already students.

"_Made it!" _he thought slowing down into a fast walk, he pulled out a phone with a rainbow coloured case on it and checked the time _"And with fifteen minutes to spare, guess I should hurry up and sign in"_

He spotted a few people sitting behind desks, with laptops and who were handing out little white cards, he then walked over to the one closest to him. Behind the desk sat a Black haired woman in her mid-to-late twenties. She had long black hair, tied up in a little bun. Perched on her nose was a set of thin framed glasses. She was wearing a yellow coat with white trimming and a knee length skirt, the outfit was completed with grey shoes that had little yellow orbs on either side. Her eyes were a dark green.

"Hello" she said to boy as he stopped before her "Would you please tell me your name?"

"Hello, my names Miyazaki Takuya" Takuya responded warmly.

The woman turned to the laptop and after a few clicks found what she was looking for "Miyazaki Takuya, Age 16, born June 7th, did not attend the Duelist Prep School?"

"That's me alright"

"Alright Takuya, your exam number is 374, so your written test will be in room 10" She said producing a pen and writing down the number 374 onto a white card "You should hurry and get there as soon as possible, the exam is starting in about...ten minutes"

"Thank you Ms..." Takuya replied taking the white card the woman was offering him.

"Prof. Fujikawa"

"Thank you Prof. Fujikawa" Takuya said walking towards the large white building in front of him.

"_Miyazaki Takuya, eh? I wonder if he's related to you, Katsuya." _Fujikawa thought as Takuya walked off _"He does look a lot like you, and you did always go and on about your brother..."_

* * *

Takuya groaned as he glanced at the last question on his paper. The questions up till now had been a mix of very basic easy questions, intermediate but still moderately easy questions and questions so damn hard it was impossible to believe anybody who wasn't an amazingly intelligent, savant godlike being could answer them. Then again maybe Takuya was just being bitter.

"_I think this might be right...I hope" _thought Takuya as he wrote down the answer that had popped into his head.

Finishing he looked around him. The room was rather large, holding about 30-35 people, all of whom were busy writing or looking over they're paper. Well all except one. One boy towards the front was busy drawing on the wall next to him. This boy, if the frustrated shouting of the teacher supervising the exam, was named Akatsuchi Chiba. He had spiky hair, which was somewhere between blonde and orange in colour. He had light green eyes, which were dull with boredom. A ringed piercing stuck out of his lips, the ring was gold in colour and looked pretty expensive. His left hand was currently stuck in the pocket of his red jumper, while his right was, of course, drawing a mixture of profanity and oddly shaped dragons. He wore black jeans and black boots.

"Miyazaki, if you're finished you should take this time to look over your work!" yelled the supervisor.

"_I guess I should at least check and see if I've missed anything" _Takuya thought turning his paper back to page 1.

Further up Chiba had momentarily stopped drawing on the wall _"Miyazaki? As in Miyazaki Katsuya? No couldn't be him, he's already graduated from duel academy, plus he disappeared...maybe it's a sibling or a cousin or someone with the same name" _Finished thinking he went back to drawing on the wall, much to the chagrin of the supervisor who believed for a second Chiba had finally given up.

* * *

"I would like to welcome you all to the Duel Academy entrance exams"

Once the applicants had finished their written exams they were ushered into the main duel arena. The field had been separated into twelve different duel fields. In the middle of the duel fields a man dressed in a blue trench coat with white trim, black trousers and white boots, stood addressing the crowd. He was a balding man wearing circular frames and his eyes were a dark blue colour. On one side of the fields was the applicants while on the other side the current student body of the academy were watching the duels.

"My name is Vice-Principle Miyagi, and I would like to stress, that though not all of you shall make it into the academy, you should all strive to fulfil your dreams none-the-less" He said addressing the applicants "Normally, this is where I would introduce the Principal, but unfortunately...she has decided to stay on holiday in Florida for a few more days, she has however sent us a card with speech she has written" he produced a post card with a picture of a large body of water, he quickly read the back "...She sends you all her love...and wishes you good luck...Okay...anyway, we'll now begin calling you out randomly for your duels"

With that he left, leaving the applicants confused, the students however were conversing amongst themselves, as though they were privy to information the applicants were not.

"_That...that was a little wierd" _Takuya thought grimacing.

"Will applicants numbered, 325, 158, 277, 101, 323, 42, 1, 99, 125, 300, 124, and 5 please report to duel fields A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L respectively, thank you" came a voice over the intercom.

"_Now it begins. Time to watch some duels"_

* * *

Ten minutes later, in the student area.

"Man, some of these guys are actually pretty good" said a white haired boy, he was wearing a white trench coat with blue trim, black trousers and grey boots with white orbs on either side, strapped to his left arm was a silver academy issue duel disk with blue markings, his trench coat hung open revealing a black t-shirt and a blue crystal necklace. His blue eyes were darting between each of duels taking place below him as he leaned on the railing which prevented him from falling "What do you think Jin?"

Behind him was a boy dressed in the same clothes as the white haired boy, although his coat was closed. He had spiky black hair and grey eyes, his duel disk was strapped to his right arm instead of his left.

"Some of them are alright, but others are a bit...lacking" replied Jin

"...Well not everybody is going to be as good as the Kaiser..." the white haired boy retorted.

"My rank has nothing to do with it Ichigo" Jin sighed running a hand through his hair "All I'm saying is some of these people just don't have that spark"

"...You should see this guy, I think he might have the spark you're talking about" Ichigo said eyes widening

"Hm?"

* * *

Duel Field A

A Duelist with long black hair, which reached his back, wearing a long black trench coat, black jeans and black boots was duelling against a proctor with black hair wearing a blue trench coat. The Duelist had brown eyes.

"Well, you may have managed to avoid taking damage so far, but next turn you're in for a world of pain" the proctor said, on his field he had a yellow skinned demon, holding a large double bladed staff, wearing blue armor adorned with purple orbs "Next turn, my Vorse raider is gonna tear into you!"(Vorse Raider A:1900)

"Unfortunately for you, I'm not going to let that happen" replied the Duelist, he had no cards on his field.

(P: 2000)(D: 4000)

"This duel has come to an end" The Duelist said calmly drawing a card which he barely even noticed to his hand, bringing it up the total cards in his hand to five.

"Oh please, even you could summon a monster strong enough to destroy my monster, he'd need to have 3900 attacks points to end this duel!" the Proctor retorted

"Hm, I activate the spell card Lightning Vortex" the Duelist said slamming a green bordered card into his duel dick "By discarding a card from my hand all face-up monsters on your field are destroyed!"

"Damn, Vorse Raider!" shouted the Proctor as his field was hit by a massive bolt of lightning, shattering the monster into millions of pixels.

"Because you tried I'll let you witness the power of my deck!" The Duelist said, sliding another card into his duel disk "I activate Monster Reborn to special summon the card I just discarded for Lightning Vortex. Be reborn and appear before me, Heavenly Dragon Utopia!"

In a flash of light, a large humanoid dragon appeared. It had white scales and some red armor on its body. Its eyes were Golden in colour, and it's wings were outstretched as it let out a tremendous roar. (Heavenly Dragon Utopia A: 3000)

"Woah, that's one big dragon!" The proctor shouted eyes widened.

"Utopia is half of my soul, and with it I will win this duel, and enter the academy as a Duelist!" roared the Duelist "My name is Nara Kamui, and don't any of you forget it, for one day I will be the King of Games, now attack Utopia, Finality field!"

The Dragon let out a massive roar once more, as a field of energy emitted from his body and covered the whole duel field. When the attack had died down the Dragon dispersed into orbs of light which then faded away.

"Well done applicant!" Proctor said smiling "You've passed the exam with flying colours"

"That was a good duel, maybe I'll duel you again someday" Kamui said walking away from the duel field.

* * *

Jin sweatdropped "He was a little, dramatic...wasn't he?"

"Does that matter?" Ichigo asked "That was an amazing duel"

"Yeah...He might actually pose a challenge; it's difficult to find a good duel when the only people who might be able to defeat me are you and Yui..." Jin said rubbing his chin.

"Speaking of Yui, where is she?"

"She said she wasn't coming, something about not caring about the incoming freshmen..."

"Sounds like her" sighed Ichigo

* * *

"Hey Kamui, nice duel man!" Chiba yelled running over to the duelist who was currently looking for a seat "I can't believe you managed to win without taking damage!"

"Oh...I forgot you were here" sighed Kamui "Please keep your voice down, you're giving me a headache"

"Cold as always..." Chiba said with a sigh "Do you think Miho was watching you're duel from the student stands"

"Yeah, she probably got all of her prep school friends to watch it too" Kamui replied taking a seat.

"I haven't duelled yet, but man it's gonna be cool"

"I don't care"

"Can't you just drop the cool guy act and be a friend for once?" Chiba asked glaring at his friend.

"We're not friends, we are collectively Miho's friends but individually we are acquaintances" answered Kamui putting his feet up on the back of the seat in front of him.

"...Dude, we've known each other longer than we've known Miho" Chiba said shaking his head.

"...Shut up"

"Would Applicant number 374 please report to Duel Field C, I repeat Applicant 374 please report to duel field C" announced the intercom.

"That you?" Kamui asked

"No, I thought you didn't care?" retorted Chiba pouting

"I don't, I just want you gone"

* * *

In a box overlooking the duel arena Prof. Fujikawa sat watching the duels. She had discarded her glasses on a table beside her leg. She looked rather bored watching the duels.

"What's wrong Kira? Not enjoying the show?" Vice-Principle Miyagi said walking up behind her, a warm smile on his face.

"I just wish I could be down there" she replied "Sometimes I just hate watching other people duel"

"Well consider your wish fulfilled" Miyagi said producing a deck "You're to report to Duel Field C, your opponent is number 374"

"Number 374 eh?" She said jumping to her feat and taking the deck "Miyazaki Takuya? Is he Katsuya's brother?"

"Ask him" Miyagi replied sitting down "I'm not sure"

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"_Here it is" _Takuya thought as he entered Duel Field C _"I'll definitely get into the academy, with this deck you gave me, just watch!"_

Standing across from him Prof. Fujikawa was waiting with her duel disk on her right arm, ready for the duel to come. She had let her hair down and had a fierce look in her eyes. She was shuffling her deck.

"Welcome Applicant number 374" She said placing her deck into her duel disk "I am Prof. Fujikawa and I will be your opponent today"

"Hello again Prof. Fujikawa" Takuya said, he quickly shuffled his deck and then placed it into his duel disk.

"If you are prepared, let's begin" she said activating her duel disk.

Takuya nodded activating his duel disk "I'm going to win, don't you forget it!"

"DUEL" They shouted in unison drawing five cards.

(T: 4000)(F: 4000)

"I'll take the first turn" Fujikawa said drawing a card "As is common in the Pro Duelling circuit, I will set a monster in defence card and another card in my spell and trap card zone, turn end" Two cards appeared in front of Fujikawa, one was set lengthways across and the one behind it was set width ways across.

"Not much of a turn is it" Takuya replied.

"Just because it is minimalistic, doesn't make it useless" Fujikawa retorted with a smile

(T: 4000)(F: 4000)

"My turn! Draw!" yelled Takuya ripping a card from his deck "Unlike you, I like to take a more active approach to duelling, I summon my Illuminated Knight to the field in attack mode"

In a flash a knight in white armor appeared. Emblazoned on his chest was a golden dragon with outstretched wings. Using both hands he held aloft a golden handled claymore. (Illuminated knight A: 1900)

"I'll show you the power of the deck, my brother gave me! Go Illuminated Knight, attack her defence position monster!" Takuya shouted

"_His brother?! Does he mean Katsuya?" _thought Fujikawa as the Illuminated Knight slashed her monster in half "The card you just destroyed was Giant Rat (Giant Rat D: 1450) and when he's destroyed I can special summon one earth monster with 1500 or less attack, I choose another Giant Rat!" She quickly searched her deck and produced a card, after shuffling her deck she then placed the card into her duel disk.

"A searcher eh?" Takuya questioned as a large snarling rat standing on its hind legs appeared in front of his opponent "Well it doesn't matter, because when my monster deals piercing damage!"

"Hmph" Fujikawa grunted as her Life Points fell (F: 3550)

"I set one magic or trap card and end my turn" said Takuya as another card appeared in front of him.

(T: 4000)(F: 3550)

"Draw" Fujikawa said adding a card to her hand "I take this time to activate my face-down jar of greed, now I can draw another card"

"What are you planning?" Takuya asked as Fujikawa drew another card, she smirked.

"I'll show you, I tribute my Giant Rat to summon Zaborg The Thunder Monarch(ZTTM A: 2400)!" Fujikawa said as a large monster in white and gold armor appeared, he had green hair and had large gauntlets.

"Monarchs!" Takuya shouted in disbelief _"Just my luck, I hate Monarchs!"_

"When Zaborg is Tribute summoned I can destroy one monster on the field, so bye bye Illuminated Knight!"

"No, not my Knight!" Takuya yelled as his monster was struck by lightning and exploded into pixels.

"Now Zaborg, attack him directly, Bring Down the Lightning" Fujikawa pointed at Takuya as her monster charged up electricity in his hands, he then threw a large of electricity at Takuya.

"GAH" roared Takuya as he was hit by the electricity. (T: 1600)

"And I take the lead, your turn" smiled Fujikawa _"If you really are Katsuya's brother, you'll be able to find a way out of this"_

(T: 1600)(F: 3550)

"_You've never let me down before deck, so let's show her what we can do!"_ thought Takuya drawing a card, he smiled "I summon Illuminated Barbarian to the field in attack mode!"

A massive man wearing white fur armor, holding a large golden axe appeared in front of Takuya, he let out a blood curdling roar. (Illuminated Barbarian A: 2400)

"That's a really powerful monster, any drawbacks?" asked Fujikawa

"If he is in face up defence mode, he is destroyed and if he attacks I must pay 500 life points" replied Takuya selecting a card from his hand.

"That's a pretty big drawback"

"You pay for what you get" replied Takuya slamming a card into his duel disk "I activate the spell card double summon, which allows me to normal summon once more"

"Hm, so you're going for a double KO" Fujikawa stated _"Smart move, he can deal damage to me and get rid of my monarch"_

"It's a pretty predictable strategy, but it works. Now I summon my Illuminated Sorcerer" replied Takuya as a man in a hooded white rob with gold trim, holding a golden book with a white dragon with wings outstretched emblazoned upon it in his right hand, appeared (Illuminated Sorcerer A: 1300) "Now Barbarian attack her Zaborg!" (T: 1100)

The Barbarian lurched forward and swung his axe, it sliced straight through Zaborgs right arm. Zaborg retaliated by punching through the Barbarians chest with a fist of electricity, both monsters then exploded into pixels.

"Now Sorcerer, attack her directly!"

Fujikawa grunted as the Sorcerer ran forward and slapped her with his book. (F: 2250)

"I'll end my turn with a face-down" Takuya said as another card appeared in front of him _"My Face-down mirror force will stop any monster she has in her tracks, then if I draw a monster with 1000 or more attack points I'll win next turn."_

(T: 1100)(F: 2250)

"My turn" Fujikawa said drawing a card from her deck "I activate reload, I shuffle my hand back into my deck and draw a new one"

"I'm ready for whatever you can throw at me!" Takuya yelled as she drew a new hand.

"Unfortunately for you, no you're not" Fujikawa said smirking _"It's a shame, the academy could use more duelists like him" _"I activate my own double summon, this as you know allows me two normal summon twice this turn"

Takuya shuddered _"This'll be another Monarch...please please...Anything but Mobius"_

"First I summon my final Giant Rat (A: 1400), but he's not sticking around because I'm going to tribute him to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch!" shouted Fujikawa as giant rat appeared and then exploded into light and was replaced by a monster in white armor wearing a long blue cape.

"No" mumbled Takuya _"There's no way...no way I can win now"_

"When Mobius is summoned I can destroy two spell or trap cards on the field, I choose your two trap cards" Mobius shot two spikes of ice straight at Takuyas face-down cards.

"I activate my Light of Renewal trap card, I get to draw two cards, but at the end of this turn I must discard two cards" Takuya said as the first card he played shot up, the picture on the card was that of two face-down cards bathed in light, he then drew two cards. _"You"_

"Your other card is still destroyed however" Fujikawa replied flippantly "And now it's over, Mobius attack his Sorcerer!"

"..." Mobius gathered power and shot a large spike of ice at Illuminated Sorcerer who exploded in a cloud of dust.

* * *

"Man, you were right Jin, some of these people just don't have it in them...poor kid" Ichigo said smiling sadly.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Ichigo, his name was Miyazaki right?" Jin replied

"Yeh, so?"

"I remember a Pro Duelist who disappeared years back, his name was Miyazaki Katsuya, I saw him duel a few times" Jin said folding his arms "I think they're related.

"I remember him too, he was one of my heroes, but still they're probably not related"

"Even if they aren't related, which I'm pretty sure they are. I've seen the look that kid had in his eyes, the look of a Duelist who hasn't given up, just watch, here comes an amazing turn around"

* * *

"And I thought that Takuya guy might actually win for a second..." Chiba said relaxing back in his seat.

"Don't be so quick to assume he lost" Kamui retorted "Because he definitely hasn't"

"How do you know?" Chiba asked as Kamui stood up.

"You'll see Chiba" Kamui said walking away _"Miyazaki Takuya, if you're related to my idol at all, you'll definitely win...and when that happens, I'll be here to see how strong you are for myself, but until then it would be cheating to continue watching your duel"_

"Hey! HEY! Where are you going?! KAMUI?!" shouted Chiba waving towards his friend "What an asshole...Wait what the hell is going on down there?!"

* * *

"How are you still standing?" Fujikawa asked as the dust cleared (F: 2250)

"I take no damage from a battle involving Illuminated Sorcerer" Takuya said placing his monster into his graveyard (T: 1100)

"Hm, very well, I play the continuous spell card, March of the Monarchs" Fujikawa said as the card appeared in front of her "Now Monarchs cannot be targeted or destroyed by card effects, until my second standby phase after this card is activated, in which case this card is destroyed, your turn"

(T: 1100)(F: 2250)

"Here it goes, Draw!" Takuya tore a card from his deck _"All I need is my ace, I can win this" _He checked the card and smiled, he then added it to his hand and picked another card "I set this monster in defence mode, your turn"

"I believe this a case of hypocrisy" Fujikawa said smiling

"As you said, minimalistic...but important"

(T: 1100)(F: 2250)

"I doubt your card is Maneater" Fujikawa drawing a card "It's probably a searcher or just a stall card but no matter, I win anyway I summon Mystic Tomato (Mystic Tomato A: 1400)"

Takuya smirked unnoticeably as the giant Tomato with a demonic face appeared before Fujikawa. "Why don't you attack it and find out?"

"Hm, I think I'll do just that! Mobius, destroy that card!" Mobius shot a giant spike of ice that hit the card and exploded in a cloud of dust "Now mystic Tomato finish him"

"I don't think so!" Takuya said holding up a card "The card you just destroyed was Glowdust Kuriboh (Glowdust Kuriboh D: 200), and when he's destroyed the battle phase ends immediately and I get two glowdust tokens"

"Glowdust Kuriboh? That's Miyazaki Katsuya's card" Fujikawa said

"Katsuya? Katsuya was my older brother" Takuya replied smiling as he placed the card into his graveyard "He gave me this card, to teach me the value of my cards!"

"Sounds, Like something he'd do" Fujikawa said stifling a giggle "I'll end my turn"

(T: 1100)(F: 2250)

"_Did she know big brother?"_ Takuya said drawing a card "Here it goes my turnaround!"

"Bold words coming from someone with two zero attack point tokens on his field and nothing else" Fujikawa said smiling.

"I sacrifice my tokens to summon my ace card!" Takuya yelled as his tokens exploded into light, from the light stepped forth a Knight dressed in white armor with gold trim and a long flowing gold cape. A long pony tail of golden blonde hair flowed out from his helmet and he had piercing blue eyes. In one hand he held aloft a white longsword with golden edges and a golden handle, in the other he held a circular gold shield with a white dragon with wings outstretched emblazoned on it "Illuminated Paladin (Illuminated Paladin A: 2500)

"Heh, looks like you miscalculated, if you attack Mystic Tomato I'll only lose 1100 life points, plus I'll have another card for tribute fodder" Fujikawa reprimanded "Looks like you go ahead of yourself"

"Illuminated Paladin, attack Mobius!" Takuya shouted as his monster shot forth brandishing his blade.

"What!?"

"When my Paladin destroys a monster you take damage equal to your monsters attack!" Takuya said as his monster sliced Mobius in half who exploded into pixles. He then continued forth and sliced downward at Fujikawa.

"Gah" grunted Fujikawa as the Paladin's blade hit her (F: 0)

(T: 1100)(F: 0)

"That was a great duel Prof. Fujikawa, but I gotta ask" Takuya said "Did you know my brother?"

"Yeah, I knew him" Fujikawa said smiling sadly "We went to this academy together he was a good friend, but we can discuss this later, welcome to the academy Miyazaki Takuya, you've passed your exam"

* * *

"Well...I guess you were right Jin" Ichigo said turning to his friend "But then again, I guess that's why you're the Kaiser and I'm just third place"

"I can't believe it" Jin replied "Miyazaki Katsuya's brother is going to be coming to duel academy...I wonder if he'll be much an opponent against my deck"

"Probably not, considering he's a first year...and you're the Kaiser..." Ichigo replied

* * *

Later after the exams.

Outside Kamui was waiting across from the arena. On his way out Chiba noticed Kamui and ran over to him.

"Where'd you go man?" Chiba asked staring at his friend

"I went for a walk and a bite to eat, did that Miyazaki kid win?" Kamui replied.

"Yeah, pulled some monster out of his ass and destroyed Mobius with it, it was fun to watch" Chiba answered breathing into his hands to warm them "I beat my proctor too"

"I don't care" replied Kamui walking away.

"Hey, you're not even going to wait for Miho?" Chiba called after him "You really are an ass!"

* * *

Takuya was whistling as he walked home from the exams. _"Prof. Fujikawa huh? Was there something going on between you two, Katsuya? It doesn't matter, I'm going to surpass you, I refuse to live in your shadow"_

* * *

"Hey Takuya, you like Glowdust Kuriboh right?"

"Uh huh, he's the best!"

"Yeah, want a card that can be used with Glowdust Kuriboh?"

"Yes please!"

"Here, it's called Illuminated Paladin"

"Thanks Bro!"

"Hahahahahaha, hey calm down little bro"

"One day...I will beat you"

* * *

_Next time,_

_Takuya heads to duel academy by boat, but his trip isn't going to be an easy one. He is challenged by one Nara Kamui. Who will win, Takuya or Kamui._

_Find out next time,_

_Duel 2,_

_He who will be king_


	2. Duel 2

**Path of a Duelist**

* * *

Duel 2: He who will be king

* * *

"Have you ever heard of Duel Academy Takuya?"

"Is that, that place where they teach you how to play Duel Monsters?"

"Kind of...It's this Island, where people who play duel monsters go to improve their skills. Most people go because they want a pro career and graduating duel academy looks good on any application"

"That sounds so cool!"

"Hahaha, Yeah I know right? Well the thing is...I'm going to be going away for a while..."

"Wh-why, where?"

"Next Monday, I'm going to be going to Duel Academy by boat and I won't be back until Christmas"

"Oh...okay"

"Don't worry Takuya, I'll right to you and mom often and I'll be back before you know it"

"Okay, and when you do, we'll duel again...and I'll win, I swear it!"

"Hahaha, Okay Takuya, we'll duel. I promise"

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"Takuya! Are you ready or what!? Get down here!" roared Miyazaki Toshiro "At this rate you'll miss the boat!"

"I'm coming Grandpa" replied Takuya running down the stairs, nearly crashing into his grandfather.

Toshiro smiled up at his grandson, who stood about a few inches above him. He placed a muscled hand on Takuya's shoulder "Now don't you worry about a thing, I'll take care of your mother while you're gone, you just focus on being the best duelist you can be, okay?"

"Thanks old man" Takuya smiled and patted his grandfather on his bald head "Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone, okay?

The old man's eyes lit up warmly "Now get out of my house"

* * *

At the harbour a teenage girl was standing watching as many of the new Duel Academy students piled onto the large cruise liner emblazoned with both the Kaiba Corp. and Duel academy logos. She was wearing a duel academy uniform, consisting of a short sleeved blue coat with white trim, blue miniskirt and blue boots with a white trim. An academy duel disk, grey with a blue trim, adorned her left arm. Her unusually pink hair whipped about her face in the bitter coastal wind as she hugged herself for warmth, her startlingly blue eyes watered in the cold air.

"Miho" came a cry from behind her.

"Chi-" was all she could get out as Chiba through his arms around her, nearly knocking her over as he put all his weight on her.

"Miho, carry me! I'm too tired to walk anymore" Chiba whined.

"Get off me!" Miho yelled punching her friend, knocking him to the ground.

"He's been like this all the way over here" sighed Kamui stepping over the fallen Chiba.

"I can imagine" Miho replied smiling.

Kamui arched an eyebrow "You must be freezing in that" he pulled off his trench coat and placed it over her shoulders, he fixed the long sleeves of the shirt wore under it before returning his attention to Miho.

"Thanks" she said "I swear these uniforms most of been designed by some creepy pervert in some basement somewhere"

"Yeah, they were probably made by some asshole with a schoolgirl fetish"

"I dunno, I quite like 'em" Chiba said placing his arm around Kamui's shoulder.

"Look who's recovered" Kamui sighed face palming.

"Sometimes Chiba..." Miho said walking off.

"She mad?" Chiba asked

"Remove your arm from my shoulder before I break it"

* * *

"Ichigo!" came a call from a girl on the other side of the deck.

The white haired boy switched his attention from the sea to the girl running towards him. By most standards she was incredibly beautiful, she had long flowing but oddly crimson hair, emerald green eyes, and full lips. She was dressed in a mostly white obelisk blue girls uniform, which fit her perfectly, and she had a warm smile spread across her face.

If he didn't know her as well as he did, he might've fallen in love with her at first sight like most men "Yui, how've you been?"

"Good" the second ranked duelist said hugging her friend "It's been simply too long"

"Have you seen Jin?" Ichigo asked "I wanted to talk to him about one of the new students"

"Why are bothering with first years Ichigo, they're not worth out time" Yui replied frowning "I'd be surprised if they could even activate a duel disk, let alone actually put up a good fight"

Ichigo sighed "We were first years last year, remember?"

"And even then, I never cared much for first years" She replied.

Ichigo shook his head "A duelist is a duelist, doesn't matter what year he's in"

"Whatever" she replied "I saw Jin earlier; he said he was going to stay in his room until we reach the island"

"Alright thanks"

"Eh I wouldn't go if I were you, there's a giant crowd gathered outside, looking to duel him"

* * *

"And Silent Swordsman LV 7 (A: 2800) will now attack you directly!" shouted a blonde-haired duelist , his brown eyes glinted fiercely as his monster, a blonde haired man with a blue trench coat holding a large broadsword leaped forward and sliced his opponent a rather meek looking boy (LP: 2000)

"Awh man" his opponent said as his LP dropped to zero (LP: 0)

"Heh, is that all duel academy has to offer!" the blone haired boy laughed "No one here could ever beat me!"

He scanned the crowd that had gathered around the duel field, set up by the academy so that those who wanted a duel to pass the time before arrival. "So who's next, eh? Who thinks they can take me down? How about you?"

The boy pointed towards a lone duelist with long brown hair. Takuya looked was embarrassed as the crowd turned to look at him.

"You're Miyazaki Takuya right? Your bro was in the pro leagues wasn't he?"

Takuya nodded as the crowd began to murmur. He passed through the whispering crowd readying his duel disk.

"I'm Kawano Kyosuke, soon to be Kaiser of this school" the blonde haired boy said "and you're just another piece of trash in my way"

"_I might as well pass time" _thought Takuya standing opposite Kyosuke.

* * *

Prof. Fujikawa sighed as she scanned the screen of her laptop. Sitting across from her, an old man was doing the same, he was in his late forty-early fifties and may have been one day been considered handsome, his hair (or what was left of it) was black with grey roots and his steely eyes were focused intently on the screen, he was dressed in a blue trench coat, grey trousers and blue boots the obelisk blue uniform.

"Narukami, what do you make of all these results?" Fujikawa asked leaning back in her chair and looking at the older man.

"They are very odd" Narukami began "Compared to most years we have half the normal amount of red, half the normal amount of blues, and nearly double the normal amount of yellows"

"Very few students managed to pass the feeder schools examination, maybe we should get them to revise their course?" Fujikawa said

"Hm, yes, I'll bring it up with Principle Toriyama when we arrive" Narukami replied.

"Maybe it would be best to talk to Miyagi about it" Fujikawa said sweat dropping "He'll actually do something about it"

Narukami was silent for a few seconds "That's a very good point"

* * *

Takuya smiled as he stared out over the railing into the dark blue deep below. It had been a couple of hours since his duel with Kyosuke had ended in his victory. Since then he had been challenged by many duelists, he won a few of his duels and had also lost a few too _"Man, everyone here is so strong, I can't wait to duel some more"_

"I didn't expect anyone to be out here" a voice said behind him, Takuya turned to find himself face to face with a duelist dressed in all black, his black hair, which was longer than Takuya's was flowing in the wind "You're Miyazaki Takuya aren't you?"

"Yeah, and you're Nara Kamui" Takuya replied "I saw you duel, you were incredible"

"Thanks" Kamui responded walking up and leaning over the railing yourself "I saw half of your duel, you were pretty good yourself"

"Thanks, that means a lot"

"You probably get this a lot, but I was huge fan of your brothers" Kamui said "Me and this guy I know used to go to all of his matches when he was in town"

"My brother, eh" Takuya said slightly disheartened _"The inevitable topic that always comes up in every conversation, this shadow is so big sometimes it feels like I'm drowning"_

"But you're not your brother" Kamui said pushing himself off the railing "Not by a long shot, then again do you even want to be?"

"Huh?" Takuya was confused as Kamui activated his duel disk.

"Miyazaki Takuya, I challenge you to a duel" Kamui stared intently at the brown-haired boy

"Heh, alright" Takuya activated his own duel disk.

Both duelists shuffled their decks before slamming them into their duel disk "DUEL" they shouted in unison and then both drew five cards.

(K: 4000)(T: 4000)

"I'll take the first turn" Kamui asserted drawing a card "I'll start off strong, first I summon my Shinning Dragon (A: 1600)" a large dragon made of glowing light appeared before Kamui.

"This is what you call starting out strong, he only has 1600 atk" Takuya pointed out.

"Hm, I'm not finished" Kamui said selecting a card in his hand "I activate the effect of my Shadowed Dragon, while I control I Light attribute dragon monster I can special summon him to the field! So come on out Shadowed Dragon (A: 1800)" Kamui slammed the card into his duel disk as a large dragon made out of the darkness itself appeared beside his shinning dragon.

"Okay, that's more like it" grinned Takuya

"But I'm not done, since a Dark attribute dragon exists on the field I can activate my Shinning Dragons effect can activate, once while he is face-up on the field I can select one card in my deck and add it to my hand, and I choose foolish burial" Kamui explained as he tore his deck from its holder he quickly searched through it and pulled out the selected card "Now, I'll activate it and send My Destructive Dragon Dystopia from my deck to the graveyard"

"_Destructive Dragon Dystopia? I've never heard of that card, is he going to summon it with monster reborn?"_

"Relax, I don't currently have monster reborn in my hand" Kamui said as he placed his monster into the graveyard "Now I end my turn with a face-down card" Kamui said as a card appeared behind his monsters.

(K: 4000)(T: 4000)

"Alright, My turn!" Takuya declared ripping a card from his deck _"Yes, I can empty his field with this hand"_

"Someone's happy" quipped Kamui _"He's ignoring my trap card"_

"You would be too, if you had my luck" replied Takuya slamming a card into his duel disk "I activate the spell card Polymerization, I can now send the Illuminated Beast and Illuminated Knight in my hand to the graveyard to fusion summon my Illuminated Were-Beast!" Takuya said as his monsters, a white wolf with golden eyes and a golden haired knight in white armor distorted and then spun in a circle of gold and white, and then from the circle a large anthropomorphic wolf in ripped golden trousers appeared on the field. (A: 2400)

"A monster that could take down a Red-Eyes, and on your first turn no less" Kamui said unfazed

"And I'm not done, you seem to like Dragons, so I'm going to summon a dragon of my own!" Takuya said as he placed a card into his duel disk, a golden Wyvern with white markings and glowing blue eyes appeared beside his Were-Beast, it let out a roar as it stretched its powerful wings "This is my Illuminated Wyvern (A: 1800), and now I move to my battle phase!"

"_Come at me, it'll only end up helping me in the long run"_

"Were-Beast, destroy his Shadowed Dragon!" Takuya shouted, his monster then lurched forward scratching at the dark dragon, only to be stopped by a field of energy.

"I activated my draining shield. Your attack is negated and I gain LP equal to your monsters attack points" (K: 6400) Kamui said as his face-down flipped face-up.

"_Woops, I forgot about his face-down"_ Takuya thought undeterred "My Wyvern will now destroy your Shinning Dragon!" Illuminated Wyvern let out a large fire ball which collided with Shinning Dragon, which exploded into a shower of pixels "Now My monsters effect activates, I gain LP equal half your monsters attack points (T: 4800)(K: 6200)

"You've still got a long way to go if you want to catch up with me in the Life point department" Kamui said calmly.

"I set two cards and end my turn" Takuya said as the two cards appeared behind his monsters.

(K: 6200)(T: 4800)

"Draw" Kamui said taking a card from his deck "Time to up the ante a bit"

"What do you mean?"

Kamui didn't answer, instead he replaced his Shadowed Dragon with another card in his hand "I sacrifice my Shadowed Dragon to summon my Deathguise Dragon!" as he said this a large black wyvern with red markings all over its body made out of some organic crystal appeared before him.

"Deathguise Dragon (A: 2400)?" Takuya asked as the monster appeared.

"Hm, he's a powerful card, unfortunately he doesn't gain his trampling effect because he wasn't summoned by tributing a light monster" Kamui stated placing another card into his duel disk "I activate the spell card Dragons Spite, by removing a dragon in my graveyard from play, provided it was destroyed by battle, I can destroy one monster on your side of the field, I choose my Shinning Dragon and your Illuminated Were-Beast"

"Oh no" Takuya said as the ghost of Shinning Dragon flew out of Kamui's graveyard and into Were-Beast, the monster grabbed it's head and shrieked in pain before exploding into a shower of pixels.

"Now, Deathguise destroy his Wyvern, show him what a true Dragon is!" Kamui shouted as black flames shot out of his monsters mouth, destroying Takuya's monster.

"Gah" Takuya grunted as he was hit by some of the black flames (T: 4200).

"I end my turn"

(K: 6400)(T: 4200)

"My turn" Takuya tore a card out of his deck, he stared at the card the only one in his hand and pressed a button on his duel disk "Light of Renewal, now I draw two cards, and at the end of the turn I must discard two cards"

"Top decking already?" Kamui mused

"Heh, I've got very little to work with" Takuya said drawing a card "Looks like I'm going to have to use this card already" Takuya said pressing another button on his duel disk "I activate the face-down Call of Illumination spell card, by paying 500LP I can add a light monster from my deck to my hand (T: 3700), I choose Illuminated Barbarian!" Takuya said adding pulling the card out of his deck "And now I'll summon him to the field in attack position"

Kamui arched an eyebrow as a man dressed in white fur armor and holding a golden bladed axe appeared (A: 2400) "So you're going to destroy both of our monsters?"

"Not quite, I activate the Equip spell Illuminated Shield, first I pay 300Lp (T: 3400) and now my monster can't be destroyed by battle" Takuya said as a white shield with a golden dragon emblazoned upon it attached itself to his Barbarians arm.

"A powerful card, any drawbacks?" Kamui asked still unfazed.

"_This guy is unflappable"_ "Eh yeah, if my monster is equipped with another equip spell Illuminated Shield is sent to the graveyard" Takuya replied before pointing at Deathguise Dragon "I pay 500LP because of my monsters effect, now Barbarian, destroy his Dragon!" (T: 2900)

Kamui merely stared calmly as his monster was hacked to death by his opponents Barbarian.

"Next, I'll set one card face-down and end my turn, which means I've got to discard the last card in my hand due to my Light of Renewals effect" Takuya said placing the card into his graveyard, Kamui either didn't notice, or didn't care about the little smirk that appeared briefly on Takuya's face.

(K: 6200)(T: 2900)

"I've got to ask" Kamui said drawing a card "Before we continue, is it true that Katsuya disappeared?"

"What do you mean? Of course it is" Takuya replied "The media isn't covering up some big conspiracy, one day...my bro just vanished"

Kamui nodded "I know what it's like, to be stuck in someone's shadow, my father was a pro duelist too, Nara Kazuki, he was known as the Dragon King before he retired"

"I've heard of him, my bro duelled him before" Takuya nodded "His ace was Chaos Emperor Dragon"

"Yes" Kamui replied "However just because we're in the same boat doesn't mean I'm going to lose this duel, or that we'll become best friends!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way"

"Hm, time to stop holding back, I activate double summon, this allows me to summon twice this turn" Kamui said as a small black dragon with white markings upon his body appeared in front of him "I summon my Chaos Dragon (A: 200)"

"_Uh oh, I think I know what's coming next"_

"My Chaos Dragon can act has two tributes for the summon of a Light or Dark Dragon type!" Kamui shouted as his dragon was replaced by a white and red humanoid dragon, it had battered torn wings and a beard like appendage upon its face, it's eyes glowed an unearthly blue "Appear before me Heavenly Dragon Utopia!"(A: 3000)

"So your ace finally appears!" Takuya said grinning _"I am gonna need a miracle to get out of this one"_

"One of my aces" Kamui corrected "You see my Utopia works off my Dystopia and vice versa"

"You're Dystopia?"

"My Destructive Dragon Dystopia, the card I sent to the graveyard during my first turn" Kamui said as his Dragon suddenly let out a world shaking roar "When Destructive Dragon Dystopia is either on the field or in the graveyard, Utopia gains the ability to deal damage through defence!"

"If you had card rotator I'd be really screwed"

"I don't, but that doesn't matter!" Kamui shouted raising his hand to the sky "Utopia, attack his barbarian, Blinding Burst Stream!"

Utopia roared and let loose a large beam of white energy from its gaping maw. Takuya's Barbarian merely raised the shield on its arm and grunted at the attack hit it.

"Your monster may not be destroyed, but you still take damage!" Kamui pointed out as Takuya was hit by a stray beam of energy.

"Heh" (T: 2300)

"I end my turn"

(K: 6200)(T: 2300)

"_It's all set up, I just need that one card and I can pull through this"_ Takuya said pulling a card from his deck in a slashing motion, he grinned "I activate my face-down card Monster Reborn!"

"What are you going to revive, your Were-Beast?" Kamui questioned "It won't matter, you've already lost"

"The duel hasn't been decided yet, I'm going to summon my ace card Illuminated Paladin" Takuya said as aknight dressed in white armor with gold trim and a long flowing gold cape. A long pony tail of golden blonde hair flowed out from his helmet and he had piercing blue eyes. In one hand he held aloft a white longsword with golden edges and a golden handle, in the other he held a circular gold shield with a white dragon with wings outstretched emblazoned on it (A: 2500) "Now this duel is over!"

"A bold statement for someone with less than half my life points" Kamui said matter-of-factly.

"What's the one card in Duel Monsters, which would be of use in a deck made primarily of Light monsters?" Takuya asked "It was one of the questions on the entrance exam"

"Honest, obviously" Kamui replied

"Well guess what I drew this turn" Takuya said, Kamui merely smirked in reply _"Least it's kind of a response" _"Go Paladin attack his dragon, Shinning Blade!"

"Heh, come at me" Kamui replied as the Paladin jumped up into the air brandishing it's blade which shone with an incredible golden light

"I discard Honest to activate it's effect, since my Monster is a light monster, it gains attack equal to the monster it's battling (A: 2500-5500)!" Takuya said placing the card into his graveyard, his monster gain shinning angelic wings as it's attack points soared.

"Hm, I activate the effect of the spirit dragon in my hand" Kamui said placing a card into his graveyard "his effect is similar to honests, but works when a dragon attacks or is attacked, and instead of that dragon gaining attacks points, the opposing monsters attack becomes zero"

"What!?" Takuya gasped as a ghostly black dragon flew out of Kamui's graveyard and into his monster, his monster was then surrounded by a black aura as his sword shattered. (A: 5500-0)

"I told you the duel was over; I just wanted to see what else you could do!" Kamui said as his dragon shot a beam of blinding light from its mouth; it engulfed Takuya's Paladin and then Takuya himself.

"Grah!" Takuya cried out as his world became light (T: 0)

(K: 6200)(T: 0)

"In the end, you were only able to inflict minor damage to me" Kamui said walking away "If you want to escape your brother's shadow, you'll have to do better than that next time"

Takuya sighed watching Kamui's retreating form _"He's right, Katsuya never would have lost so easily"_ Takuya pushed himself up into a standing position.

"Regardless of whether or not you were able to do any significant damage, it was still an intense duel"

Takuya turned around to see a smiling boy behind him. He was wearing a duel academy uniform which was made up of a white blazer with yellow trim, grey trousers and yellow shoes. He had aqua blue hair and his eyes were a soft amber colour.

"Sorry to startle you" the boy said "I came up to get fresh air and I caught you guys in the middle of your duel, I didn't say anything because I didn't want to interrupt"

"Oh" Takuya replied "I'm Miyazaki Takuya"

"I'm Kagutsuchi Sora" Sora said offering his hand to Takuya, who took it in his and shook it "I'm a second year Ra Yellow student" Sora walked over to the railing and leaned against it looking deeply into the water "I have to say, you don't duel anything like your brother"

"Another fan?" Takuya asked joining Sora "He was always so talented; I don't think I'll ever catch up"

"You're worrying too much, there are guys like the Kaiser and that Kamui guy who start off with enormous power and there are guys like us, we start of middle of the road, not particularly good, not particularly bad" Sora said raising a finger "But as we meet more duelists we get better ourselves, one day you will beat Kamui"

"Regardless, it was still a fun duel" Takuya said smiling

"I'm glad to hear" Sora said "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go sleep, we arrive at duel academy in like twelve hours and I need some beauty sleep"

"Night" _"What a strange guy"_

* * *

As Sora had said the boat arrived at duel academy twelve hours later. Takuya shouldered a bag as he disembarked, he was ushered into a large crowd with the rest of the first year students as the second and third years disappeared into the distance.

"Hello" boomed Vice-Principal Miyagi's voice through a megaphone "I am Vice-Principal Miyagi, first off I would like to welcome you to Duel Academy"

There was roar of approval from the crowd. Miyagi paused until it died to down and then continued "Behind me teachers have a list of names, boxes of equipment and such, form an orderly queue and you will get your academy issued gear and dorm assignments"

Takuya was swept along by the crowd as they rushed to form queues. IT took twenty or so minutes for Takuya to reach the top of the queue. He was met with an old man with greying black hair staring at a computer.

"Name?" Prof. Narukami asked

"Miyazaki Takuya" Takuya replied.

"Miyazaki Takuya" he scanned the list before clicking on a name, he turned around and pulled out a box from the middle of three piles of boxes behind him "Here you go, Ra Yellow, scored pretty high on the written and practical test"

"Thank you sir" Takuya said taking the box from the old man.

"Your room number is 207, there's a map application on PDA within that box" Narukami said didactically "There is an assembly on at half-five and a welcoming dinner in your dorm after that"

"Thank you sir" Takuya repeated.

"IT would be best for you to head over to your dorm, change and then drop off your luggage"

Takuya nodded.

"Oh and welcome to duel academy" Narukami said "Next!"

* * *

_Next Time,_

_Takuya has finally made it to duel academy, and after his duel with Kamui can't wait to see what other duelists there are. Interested in discovering more about his new roommates he challenges them to a duel._

_Takuya: I'm not going to lose!_

_?: We'll see about that_


End file.
